The AMBER Alert plans for two Canadian provinces and one American border state were put to the test during a recent abduction of a 4-year-old girl and her mother in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan issued an AMBER Alert on July 6, 2010, for Samantha Martyn and her mother, Natasha Sentes.
The mother and daughter went missing shortly after Sentes received a court order forbidding Christopher Martyn, the child's biological father, from having contact with them. Manitoba and North Dakota also issued AMBER Alerts after the suspect and victims were seen at a gas station near Winnipeg, Manitoba and the North Dakota border.
Twenty-five hours after Saskatchewan activated the first alert, police arrested Martyn and rescued the victims in Regina. Sentes had a broken bone near her eye from a punch thrown by the suspect. Martyn pleaded guilty in October to assault and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Saskatchewan AMBER Alert Coordinator Sgt. Doug Coleman was traveling in North Dakota when the alert went out. "I received the text message on my phone, and then I turned on the radio and heard the alert as well," said Sgt. Coleman. "It all worked lickety-split."
It was the first day on the job for Coleman's back-up, but the new employee sought and received guidance from national partners in Ottawa to get the alert out. "We have a check list on what needs to be done so a person can walk in and run with it, but it was helpful to have assistance," said Coleman. "We are all in this together."
North Dakota AMBER Alert Coordinator Lt. Jody Skogen said he was not reluctant to issue the alert after determining it met the state's criteria and learning the suspect had a history of traveling to North Dakota. "I had no second thoughts about it," said Skogen. "We acted quickly once we found out about the threat that was posed and that they were heading to our border."
North Dakota had not issued an AMBER Alert since 2005, Saskatchewan issued its first alert in 2006, and this was the first AMBER Alert for Manitoba. "It was a seamless process," said Manitoba AMBER Alert Coordinator Loren Schinkel. "It seemed to work quite well."
Even though Manitoba had never issued an alert, the province had been training and testing its plan in case an alert was needed. "Our AMBER Alert committee has been aggressive in reviewing our policies and protocols," said Schinkel.
The coordinators in all three jurisdictions said they learned from the alert. During a review, Manitoba found that the media was well prepared for the alert because advance phone calls were made. However, some AMBER Alert partners did not receive all the e-mails about the alert. "We had a little bit of a glitch in our contact system," said Coleman. "We have already fixed it, and we will do tests to make sure everything works for all our partners."
"Anytime someone can be returned safely it is a good result," noted Skogen. The North Dakota AMBER Alert Coordinator said training and tests prepared everyone for the moment. "The AMBER Alert worked flawlessly. We do annual tests and we have learned to get the request activated in just a matter of minutes."
The Manitoba AMBER Alert Coordinator learned good communication is vital, and it is helpful to have an interprovincial agreement that established a single set of criteria for all Canadian provinces. "It is important to have a good dialogue and constant reviews of your policies and procedures to make sure you have the successful recovery of a missing child," said Schinkel. "The whole issue is recovering an abducted child safely."